TREASURIES-Little movement in Asia before data, Bernanke

By Chikako Mogi

TOKYO, March 31 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasuries barely moved in Asia on Monday as Japanese investors stuck to the sidelines on the last day of the business year while others were wary before data and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's congressional testimony.

Financial markets have regained some stability following aggressive steps by the Fed to calm credit market turmoil and prevent the U.S. economy from deteriorating sharply, and after JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) agreed to acquire ailing U.S. investment bank Bear Stearns BSC.N.

Traders remained wary, however, of more reports of losses from financial institutions and bad economic data.

Analysts said they were keeping an eye on a slew of data due this week including manufacturing and payrolls as well as two days of congressional testimony by Bernanke.

"There is a possibility Bernanke might acknowledge that the U.S. economy has entered a recessionary phase," said analysts at Daiwa Securities SMBC in a research note to clients. "We are also eyeing whether he would suggest a pause in interest rate cuts."

On Wednesday, Bernanke will testify on the economic outlook, followed by testimony on Thursday on the role the regulators played in JPMorgan's bid to acquire Bear Stearns.

Depending on his comments, market jitters may heighten again over the credit market crisis, analysts said.

June T-note futures TYv1 rose 4/32 to 118-26.5/32, staying off the five-year high of 120-1/32 struck earlier in the month.